$172B: Are We Spending Wisely?

The Health Council of Canada was created as a result of the 2003 Health Accord. The council tracks the progress of health care renewal countrywide, examines alternatives and new models across the broad spectrum of health care and engages Canadians in the process of change.

Mr. Abbott notes that the Value for Money exercise will ask Canadians to look at the health care system from a new perspective. We’re ordering more tests, prescribing more drugs, performing more surgeries, and employing more expensive drugs. We need to ask ourselves: Are we getting any healthier?

“More health care does not always mean better health care. We need to spend smarter, not just spend more,” he says.

Dr. Heather Manson, a contributor to the council’s Value for Money paper and now a senior medical advisor to the president of the new Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, feels that identifying new models of health care delivery will be a big part of the solution.

“In Ontario and across Canada, we need to adopt a business model based on increasing value by improving health outcomes through the application of an evidence-informed approach to health service delivery,” she says. That covers everything from promotion and prevention down to the ability to reach and meet the needs of specific target groups.

“The emphasis is not on taking an existing system and simply adding incremental improvements but on looking well beyond what exists today toward new, integrated models of service delivery that improve patient outcomes, ensure quality of care and make the best use of resources — all at the same time,” she explains.

Dr. Manson points to work done in Vancouver’s Coastal Health Region, where she served in various roles, as an example of how this new approach can be used to make the system more effective at addressing issues facing seniors and those with mental health and addictions challenges.

The Region supported a team-based, co-ordinated approach, the best use of technology and careful planning to create new delivery models that did indeed provide a full continuum of care.

“This is an enormously exciting time,” she says. “The Health Council of Canada is involved in creating a system that can ensure the health of all Canadians well into the future.”

The council will capture and summarize the views, research and positions of those who participate in the national dialogue and report back to the public and their governments. It hopes this initiative will help inform policy and decision-making into the future.

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